<p>Hi, ive been in contact with the MIT football coach and he is giving me "full support" with admissions. im wondering at MIT how much this matters, but he is speaking with admissions about recruits soon so its a good sign. neway here are my stats.</p>
<p>SAT: R:750 M:740 W:710 (only took the test once if that matters)
SAT II: 800 chemistry, 720 Math 1, 690 Bio
GPA: 98.47 weighted, top 5% of class
Ap scores: Chem 5, English Language: 5
senior schedule: Ap gov, ap lit, ap physics, ap calc ab, ap eco, span honors
ECs: varsity football(captain, all county, and academic "golden eleven" for county) varsity basketball, varsity lacrosse, 2 years of research, won an award, summer research at Stony brook university and one summer volunteering for american diabetes association, science and national honors society. My application focused on chemistry</p>
<p>Interview: my interview went pretty well, the alumni thought i was very unique because of my situation, i had to choose between playing football and a spot i had recieved at a big nano chem lab, and ultimatley picked football(loyalty, and being recruited at the time).</p>
<p>abstract17: Just confirming that MIT football is Div. III? MIT has some Div. 1 teams too (womens crew), and if MIT football was Div. 1, that would change (as in, enhance) the ability of the coach to support your application, I would imagine. </p>
<p>However, assuming MIT football is Div. III, you look as if you are in GREAT shape for admissions - congratulations on getting this far, and Good Luck!!!</p>
<p>IMO, here are the salient points from the Admissions post:</p>
<ol>
<li> MIT’s full-time coaches recruit </li>
<li> This is encouraged as “outreach work.”</li>
</ol>
<p>Ask the coach where you rank on his list of recruits / potential admits. He gives this to admissions. He may not tell you but might tell your HS coach if he was involved in the process.</p>
<p>I dont regard the disclaimer of hard, formal quotas or slots as terribly meaningful, since, in other areas, the desired results are frequently obtained with or without these.</p>
<p>Also, many athletic and other special admits seem to get in EA. Dont know if you applied then. judging from your comment that the coach had not yet submitted his so-called “request to admit” on you I take it that this is not the case.</p>
<p>I think MIT has the most varsity sports in the country. (Even if we are second to Harvard in this respect, they have a much bigger class.) If recruited athletes (as defined as athletes good enough to play on our teams) have as big an edge as you are implying, then it would cut the number in available admission spots for non-recruited athletes by a ridiculous amount. I think (and hope) you are mistaken. I know it wasn’t the case in the past, as in the one division I sport we have, crew, we only had one guy who had rowed before the year I joined.</p>
<p>i was told that i am “one of the few guys being heavily supported” today. great news, anyway, harvards and the rest of the ivys give a huge edge to recruited athletes (1200 SAT). i can tell that a big edge is not really given, considering this is basically the first year MIT football is being recruited</p>
<p>No but the admissions committee does understand what it means for a coach to heavily support a candidate. The dean of admissions, Stuart Schmill, was previously the MIT varsity Crew coach. Every year as a coach, he sent to the admissions office a list of the candidates he was really hoping that they would accept, every year he was disappointed at least in part. Now, on the other side, every year he receives those lists, and every year he disappoints the coaches.</p>
<p>But being recruited is not trivial. It is an indication to MIT that the coach really does want you on campus, and while that will not get an unqualified candidate in, it can certainly tip the balance in close cases. When someone like current senior DeRon Brown leads Division III nationwide in averaging 170 yards a game, and wins his second all-America award, it brings a lot of very positive attention to MIT, with very positive write-ups in USA Today, and other mass market publications. This is an unqualified good thing for MIT. </p>
<p>I think that having the coach “heavily support” you is a great thing to have on your application. Though as has been said earlier, that will not help you if the rest of the application is not strong, and nobody can interpret the strength of an application through a listing of scores. Good luck with your application.</p>
<p>@abstract17. Your credentials are amazing, congratulations. Good luck with your application, i think you have a great chance to get in. My D applied EA and got deferred. Great student-athlete, coach said she is his number 1 recruit for this class, he wrote her an email after EA decisions, expressing his disappointment but encouraging her to keep up with her grades and other ECs. MIT is my D’s dream school! She applied to her state school and other colleges that she thought she would be happy attending in case MIT does not work. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>Like, Feliz my son got deferred as well and he was told by the coach he is the number one overall recruit, but also that doesn’t mean anything. MIT is very high on my son’s list, and even though he will have D1 options, we all would prefer he go to MIT and play
D3 and get a great education. The coach was also disappointed that he didn’t get in EA but wrote an email to keep up his grades and EC’s as well.</p>
<p>@Mikalye - Sure. There are other activities that will also tip the scale. Applicants seem to be under the impression that athletics are loads better than other things in the eye of admissions and seem unclear about what it means to be “recruited” at MIT.</p>
<p>i was told by the coach, whos in his second or first year right now that before him they didnt really recruit much for football. just repeating what he said. im aware that it is tough to actually “chance” me but i am just trying to get a picture of what type of athletic recruits get in at MIT. i am assuming that im going to be getting an offer soon from another top d3 school that can actually verbally commit me. im trying to figure out if MIT is a longshot or a reasonable acceptance for me.</p>
<p>^^I talked to the rowing coach once and he told me he didn’t recruit because MIT didn’t give him funds to travel. So financial support may affect how much a team recruits. </p>
<p>There’s no way to know how big a tip factor athletic recruitment is. I know it wasn’t that much before. I wonder, though. Is it just me or does it seem like MIT athletes are performing a lot better than they used to in terms of team performance and indivicual accolades? There always was a freak athlete once in awhile who also crushed his classes (one guy in my class got a 5.0 GPA in chem E and he had been a division I football recruit at U. of Virginia), but it seems like lately we’ve been doing better across the board.</p>
<p>One thing that is good about MIT admissions is its transparency. Though what they say can be vague at times, I don’t think they would blatently misrepresent themselves.</p>
<p>its possible the athletes are getting better. i was also told by the coach that MIT is trying to shift slightly away from the 2400 valedictorian image and bring in some athletes and ROTC kids because companies recruit them more actively (more people skills maybe)</p>
<p>Way back in the 1970’s when I was at MIT, there was no Varsity football team, and MIT was actually proud of that fact (we were way too smart to get hurt doing things like that!). In fact, in those days, MIT was known to have more varsity sports than any comparable school, and the worst sports’ record for those teams. Wow, have times changed! Back then, wimpy nerds (I think the fencing team used slide rules). Now, athletic nerds.</p>
<p>MIT never was about the 2400 valedictorian. If anything MIT always looked for the more 'angular" candidate with a special skill in math or science. In the years I have interviewed candidates for admission to MIT, the most successful ones have always had something that really stood out, generally winning some science competitions or with strong research backgrounds. </p>
<p>But one thing is clear, no one was admitted on athletic skill who was not already a very strong candidate. This year I interviewed an exceptional football player for EA, who was also heavily recruited by several Ivy League schools. He had met with the MIT coach who told him he had a very good chance. His grades were good but his curriculum was just not very rigorous compared to some of the other applicants from the same school. I gave him a positive recommendation but he ended up being deferred. I seriously doubt he will get in RD despite his athletic ability. </p>
<p>As others have stated, 'recruited athletes" go through the exact same admission process as everybody else at MIT. No likely letters, slots, or “requests to admit” or bypassing of the regular admissions committee. The coach as no vote in committee. My D is in a sorority at MIT with a number of varsity athletes. Her roommate competes in DIV I for crew but is a walk-on and was not even recruited. So is half the team. Every year, varsity teams are short athletes that are recruited after commencement.</p>
<p>On the other hand, demonstrating that you are not some anti-social math or science grind can be very helpful. MIT is big on collaboration and team spirit, so anything that supports that trait is helpful, whether it is football or cheerleading.</p>